Henry Lawson - the soul of the nation

If you are over sixty, Henry Lawson will need no introduction (your mum probably loved him). But if you are younger, you may be saying, 'Henry who?' He was a poet and short story writer who was called, ‘The soul of the nation’. Born in a tent on the goldfields in 1867, Henry Lawson ended his life in and out of jails and mental asylums. Drink and depression ruined him. But when he died he was given a state funeral and the whole country mourned. And if, while you’re listening, you’re walking down the middle road in Waverley Cemetery heading towards that glittering blue ocean, you might notice an unusual sign on your left. It looks like a rusty old oil can beaten flat and roughly painted on it you’ll see, ‘Henry Lawson’s Grave, this aisle’. Nothing flash… As the stone angel who narrates this podcast says, “I think he would have liked it." Script and production by Nicole Steinke Sound engineering and additional sound design by Judy Rapley The Angel was read by Ainslie McGlynn Excerpts from Henry Lawson's The Bush Undertaker, Andy's Gone with Cattle and The Drover's Wife were read by Jeremy Waters Music and SFX from Epidemic Sound